Bali’s Beaches: Free Access for All

Some Hotels in South Bali Accused of Barring Public Use of the Beachfronts

A number of hotels in Nusa Dua are being accused of expropriating their beachfronts, turning these areas into private beaches off-limits to non-hotel guests.

The Bali Post highlights the problem, reporting that people straying onto some beach fronts at Nusa Dua are turned back by security personnel who warn that only hotel guests are allowed access to the beach front. And while some beach visitors protest, correctly insisting that all beaches are open to public access in Bali, the security guards remain steadfast in barring their passage.

Protest from local citizens have prompted the chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI). IGN Rai Surya Wijaya to issue a statement, saying: “The beach belongs to the public and cannot be closed or controlled by anyone. What’s more, there is the impression that several hotels who are subdividing the beachfront, something they cannot do. The beach is for the enjoyment of the public at all times. The public can visit any beach at any time.”

Surya Wijaya said that while many hotel optimize their use of the beach panorama afforded by their location and place lounge chairs up and down the beach that give the mistaken impression of exclusive control and ownership of the beach. While in reality the beach belongs the undisputable right of all people in Bali to enjoy.

The PHRI-Bali chairman expressed the belief that hotels laying more than their rightful claim on their beachfront can, in fact, be encountered in many areas of Bali, not just in Nusa Dua.

Bali’s offciial zoning law, RTRWP 2009, contains stipulations intended to safeguard the public right-of-way to all beaches by outlawing all permement structure being built within 100 meters of the high water mark.

Source: Bali Discovery Tours